The Standard Group Plc is a multi-media organization with investments in media
platforms spanning newspaper print
operations, television, radio broadcasting, digital and online services. The
Standard Group is recognized as a
leading multi-media house in Kenya with a key influence in matters of national and
international interest.
Controversial Suna East MP, Junet Mohamed who was arrested and charged with hate speech — for the second time in a year, has been a marked man for close to two weeks before he drove into a police dragnet yesterday.
Mohamed was a wanted man following a speech he made during a youth convention in Homa Bay on July 2. His luck ran out when he was arrested near Homa Bay town by plain clothes Directorate of Criminal Investigations officers who had been trailing him after after he landed at the Kisumu International Airport from Nairobi.
This time round, they arrested him without a tussle, unlike last year when Siaya Senator James Orengo and Homa Bay Town MP, Opondo Kaluma foiled attempts to arrest on Nairobi’s Kimathi street.
Yesterday, Mohamed appeared before Homa Bay Principal Magistrate Susan Ndegwa where he was charged with perpetrating hate speech. He denied the charges and was released on a Sh500,000 bond or Sh 100,000 cash bail. The case will be heard on October 24, this year.
The outspoken MP is one of the most ardent supporters of NASA leader Raila Odinga. In his overzealous quest to defend Raila’s ideals, Mohamed has earned friends and foes in equal measure.
“Junet is a very strong ODM defender. In Parliament, he argues and articulates issues maturely. While Jubilee has Aden Duale, I have Junet as a trusted soldier,” Raila said in Migori during the MP’s homecoming ceremony.
He is among six Opposition MPs who were sued by Deputy President William Ruto for linking him to the Sh8 billion Karen land.
“I have two fathers; my biological dad and also my political father Raila Amolo Odinga. I am a student of his political ideology,” Mohamed was quoted saying.
His outspoken nature has not only targeted rival Jubilee leadership but also his own NASA colleagues.
Son of Suna
In September 2015, Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero wrote to ODM complaining that Mohamed, who is the party’s Director of Elections was plotting to lock him out of the race.
The second child in a family of nine, Mohamed attended Migori Primary then proceeded to Lenana School, and University of Nairobi for a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration. Although he has his roots in Mandera, Mohamed was born and bred in Migori town where he has many friends, giving him bragging rights to use the title Wuod Suna (son of Suna).
His father, Sheikh Nuh Mohamed, settled in Migori town where he set up a shop in the 1970s.
“There is no hate speech I made in Homa Bay. These are just tricks to intimidate and stop us from speaking about plans to rig the election,” he said yesterday.
